/feeld"uy'euhn, -uy'on/
a device in which the atomic structure of the surface of a conductor is made visible by introducing helium gas into the device and applying a high voltage to ionize and accelerate the gas toward a fluorescent screen. Cf. field-emission microscope.
[1950-55]
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field-ion microscope noun
1. A modification, with greater resolving power, of the field-emission microscope, in which ions of a gas (usu helium) which is adsorbing on the metal point are repelled and produce the image on the screen
2. Used in conjunction with an instrument such as a mass spectrometer to identify the atoms, it is known as an atom-probe-field-ion microscope
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Main Entry: ↑field
Useful english dictionary. 2012.